brought a vast extension of Himmler’s empire and the resources at his command. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Himmler was entrusted with the administration of the conquered territory with the goal of eliminating the Soviet system. In July 1942 Hitler appointed Himmler to head the German antipartisan campaign in the occupied areas behind the front lines; that campaign targeted the racial and political enemies of the and was characterized by widespread acts of and atrocity. He oversaw the deployment of the (“deployment groups”) in the massacre of and other victims at sites such as , in Ukraine, during the early war years. Himmler organized the in German-occupied Poland at which millions of were systematically slaughtered. The camps also provided workers for cheap and subjects for involuntary medical experiments.By 1943 Himmler had become minister of the interior and plenipotentiary for Reich administration. He expanded the (“Armed SS”) until, with 35 divisions, it rivaled the army. He also gained control of the intelligence network, military armaments (after the abortive attempt on Hitler’s life of July 20, 1944), the (“People’s Storm Troop”), a mass levy of mostly older men, and later the Werwolf, a guerrilla force intended to continue the struggle after the war. He also unsuccessfully commanded two army groups.Not content with military power alone, Himmler attempted to set up an autonomous SS industrial empire. When that provoked resistance from Hitler’s minister for armaments and war production, , Himmler apparently orchestrated an attempt on the latter’s life in February 1944.In the final months of the war, Himmler suffered increasingly from psychosomatic illnesses and was progressively shunted aside by Hitler’s entourage. In April 1945 it became known that Himmler hoped to succeed Hitler and that he had negotiated with both Swedish Greve (Count) (to surrender to the Western allies) and the Western (to form an alliance against the ). Hitler promptly stripped Himmler of all offices and ordered his arrest. Disguised as a common soldier, Himmler attempted to escape. Captured by the Western Allies, he committed suicide by taking poison., Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (German: [ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈluːɪtpɔlt ˈhɪmlɐ] ⓘ; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful people in Nazi Germany., Heinrich Himmler, German Nazi politician, police administrator, and military commander who became the second most powerful man in the Third Reich. He was the head of the SS (Schutzstaffel; ‘Protective Echelon’), the ‘political soldiers’ of the Nazi Party..